What did Trevor Story have left?
In late May, that question was unavoidable. While the 32-year-old, after playing just 163 games through his first three years with the Red Sox, had been healthy enough to stay on the field for the first two months of the year, it was unclear whether he could continue to hold down everyday shortstop duties.
Story finished May hitting .216/.260/.326, with his OBP and OPS ranking in the bottom 10 among qualifying hitters. After a hot first three weeks of the season, he’d fallen into what seemed like a bottomless funk, hitting .132/.188/.186 — a .374 OPS that was the worst by a Red Sox non-catcher over a 33-game span since 2014.
“We were all concerned,” manager Alex Cora recalled recently. “He was hitting in the middle of the lineup, and we needed him to perform. I was very vocal about it: For us to be good, he needed to perform.”
Perform he has. Since June 1, Story has been one of the top players in the sport. In 60 games entering Tuesday, he was hitting .291/.336/.507 with 11 home runs and 10 steals, while offering above-average defense at short. His across-the-board contributions have played a sizable role in the Red Sox’ resurgence, with them going 37-23 (.617) during Story’s hot streak.
“It’s a direct correlation and really, really connected,” said Rob Refsnyder, Story’s locker mate. “He’s just athletically amazing, and paired with his work ethic and his IQ, he can impact the game in every single way — defense, offense, base running, and his leadership. He’s the guy I probably look up to more than anyone on the team.”
“This is the guy we envisioned a while ago when we made the decision [to sign him],” said Cora, referencing the team’s six-year, $160 million commitment to Story in March 2022. “When he was bad in May, we were bad. When he’s been good, we’ve been really good.”
How did Story achieve this about-face?
Foremost, after missing so much time over his first three years in Boston, the mere act of being in position to take the field regularly required a considerable commitment.
“I don’t think anybody works as hard as he does,” said Refsnyder, who noted that Story will typically show up before a night game around 12:30 or 12:45 p.m., before anyone else on the team, to go through an extensive routine.
Story has long relied on a personal off-field team — a trainer near his home in Texas, nutritionists, and in recent years, particularly after his devastating broken shoulder last year, mental skills coaches.
It required a far-reaching commitment to get back to a point where he was physically and mentally prepared to compete at the highest level. The steep trek back to the field has reframed how Story views his time on it, and how he was able to deal with his early-season struggles.
“The game is so hard that it just kind of paralyzes you a little bit,” said Story. “[The rehab from the shoulder injury] was a really tough spot, and I think the work there just really helped me, perspective-wise, be where I’m at today, and being able to enjoy this time.
“There was a point where I thought I would never play again. So going from that, to battling my way back to, I’m in the game, and I’m playing every day and struggling, it’s a little easier to go about that . . . I think that toughness that I kind of built in those moments served me well this year.”
That perspective allowed Story to accept that a return to health was not going to instantly result in a return to production. It took time for the shortstop to reclaim his natural feel for the game.
In April and May, he got lost thinking about the mechanics of his swing or his defensive movements. With increased playing time, he went from a paint-by-numbers approach, which often was misaligned with the actual tempo of the game, to allowing his athleticism to reconnect him to the game’s rhythms.
“[I’m] kind of on autopilot. That’s the feeling, for sure, where the past couple years it had been just a lot of thinking,” said Story. “Playing free, playing with that athleticism, has been one of the biggest things to where I can do it every day and feel good . . . I just really feel in control of my game and really feel like that impact player that can do it on both sides of the ball and run the bases and just be an all-around player.”
There also have been adjustments in terms of his thought process. Story was getting demolished by fastballs (.143 average, .157 slugging) through May. Rather than overthinking reports on opposing pitchers, he committed to covering fastballs early in counts, improving to a .284 average and slugging .433 against heaters since June 1.
Additionally, rather than thinking about the shape of his swing, he focused on outcomes — including a commitment to driving the ball to the pull side. His air pull rate since June 1 is 20 percent, up from 7 percent.
“We actually had a conversation, we’ve got to go for the corner threes, right?” Cora said of trying to pull the ball at Fenway. “[The Wall] is right there. However you get there, let’s get there.”
The fact that Story was able to take such a directive and implement it — he’s hitting .327/.374/.531 with 15 extra-base hits at Fenway since the beginning of June — underscores the point at which he’s arrived. In many ways, this is the player who had been an anchor of the Rockies for the first six years of his career, and the one who the Red Sox believed worthy of a nine-figure commitment.
“All of us knew what he could do,” said reliever Garrett Whitlock, who bonded with Story through frustrating injuries over the last three years. “But it’s nice for Boston fans to see, ‘Hey, man, this is Trevor Story.’ ”
In its own right, that development would be significant for the Sox. Story has been a central part of their charge to contention.
Yet for members of the team who saw how much it weighed on Story to be unable to contribute in the fashion he’d envisioned, there is an added sweetness to seeing their teammate thrive again.
“I remember we had a talk last year, me and him, heart to heart, and after his injuries, he was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to go through this again.’ That’s a long journey,” said Jarren Duran. “I just remember telling him, ‘We all love you, bro. We love you, and we’re gonna support you no matter what you decide to do.’
“And I’m thankful that he was able to stay, because I’ve looked up to him for so long, and I haven’t even gotten to play with him that much. So getting to play behind him and hitting in the order with him is honestly the best thing that’s happening in my baseball career, is being able to play with Trevor Story. I tip my cap to him.”
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.